Numberline
by maebyfunkebluth
Summary: First, second, third, fourth, fifth. Numbers mean different things to different people. Five oneshots with very different characters. Cameos by Aaron Echoll's wife, LoganLilly, Kendall Casablancas, Lianne Mars, and Cliff.


This is just a quick group of one-shot, most of them about minor characters. The idea came from the first story that I wrote, and I just took it from there. Please read and review, thanks!

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First

You are his first. You are there the first time his agent calls him, incredulous, telling him that they want him back to audition after all. You are there the first time he lands a role, the first time he goes to a movie premiere. You are the first girl who stands mutely by his side while cameras snap pictures of a pretend life. You are the first one to have a child with him, even though you are broken, barren, not good enough for him, you adopt a beautiful baby girl so your life will be complete.

You are the first women whom he hits. You are the first woman he loved that puts on layers upon on layers of foundation, concealer, powder, anything that will hide the bruises. You are the first woman he comes home to in the middle of the night with alcohol on his breath. You are the first woman who lies on the floor, face to the carpet, biting her lip as he hurts her, trying so hard not to wake the baby.

You are the first woman who buys his child birthday presents, exactly what she wanted, and you are the first woman who watches her little girl hug her father with a happy grin on her face. You are the first woman who wishes she never had a baby with him, the first person who wished they never brought anyone else into this broken, shattered place.

You are the first woman he drives to the emergency room at two o'clock in the morning. You are the first person who watches him lie shakily to the doctors. You watch as he gets better and better, his acting at home improving as well as on set.

You are the first person he gives the speech to. The one about how he can't help himself. The one where he says he is truly sorry. You are the first person who stops believing it.

You are the first woman who leaves him in broad daylight, who leaves her entire life behind, and knows he won't really care. You hope you are the last.

When you read about him and Lynn Lester in the paper you smile for the first time in a long while. You hope your daughter will have a loving mother, and maybe, you wish, a loving father. When you find out that he has a son you cry. You are sad because you could never give him a child of your own, and you are sad because his life must be so perfect. You are sad because you never gave him what he needed, and Lynn is obviously doing that.

You never question that his new life is perfect. After all, it was your fault. That's why you left. That's why you never look back.

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Second

The wedding is beautiful, all understated elegance, but with enough glamour so that people know that this cost a shit load of money. Her dress is sleek and shimmers all the way down to her ankles. Her hair is in a chignon and she's wearing a veil.

A freaking veil! Kendall Almost-Casablancas wants to scream. She's not really the understated sophisticated type. She always thought her wedding would be her in sweatpants with a shotgun to the back of her head. This isn't much better. If only her dress was a little shorter, and maybe in a different color.

White looks good on her, hell anything looks good on her, but on her wedding day? Yuck. But Richard's mother went dress shopping with her because Kendall just didn't know _anybody_ in Neptune. If she told the walking corpse who she did know, it might do her in once and for all.

But Kendall knows that if she argued she would get nowhere near the pre-nup and that would just make things worse.

Kendall knows that she's the requisite second wife. A trophy bride. She has credentials in this area, she knows how to stare blankly and look pretty. She knows how to hide her intelligence. So she'll be Bridal Barbie for now, and then she'll be the doting wife, she might even not kick out Richard's insipid little brats. Everyone knows this marriage won't last, but Kendall doesn't care. This wedding, this relationship means nothing. She'll ride this sham all the way to the bank.

So Kendall will be the second woman to marry Richard Casablancas, and if she has her way there will be many more weddings. Not for him of course. For her.

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Third

Passionfruit Lip Smackers and the smell of shampoo. This is their third kiss, behind the amusement park where John Enbom's thirteenth birthday party is taking place. She is fourteen and he is thirteen, and they are almost in love with each other, the kind of love that you can only share in middle school, the kind that you grow out of.

She feels dangerous and forbidden and all the things that a guy wants. She is flush against him and he can feel her breasts through her tight t-shirt. This doesn't feel adolescent though, and maybe it is because both of them are too old for their age, they both have seen more than they should've.

She was giggling seconds before as he stole pieces of her cotton candy. She can taste it in her mouth, and she thinks it's funny that Logan Echolls has a sweet center.

To him she tastes sour, tangy, and her lip balm stings a bit on his lips. Lilly Kane looks like a valley-girl cheerleader, but inside she is sort of, he doesn't know the words to say it. Tart. Bitter.

Bitter mixes with sweet and innocence mixes with lust, and they kiss, oblivious to teenage clichés and relantionships to come.

Because right now they are just beginning. They will go back and ride the Ferris Wheel together, and soon they will be flirting and linking arms. They are still new and clean.

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Fourth

Lianne Reynolds asks him to marry her on her fourth glass of wine. Her words are slurred, but not from the alcohol. Maybe a little from the alcohol. This isn't all she's had to drink today, and in their new apartment before their date she christened the liquor cabinet.

Keith Mars pretends like he doesn't know she's drunk. Maybe he doesn't. They've been living together for three months, and they finally moved out of Keith's musty cramped "bachelor pad" as he called it. But he's never commented on the times when Lianne's drunk too much and he's had to drive her home and put her to bed.

It doesn't happen much. Lianne's not stupid. She knows that Keith notices sometimes when she goes overboard, she recognizes that look in his eyes that means he's a little scared of her. She controls herself, because Keith is a good person. He rubs off on her, makes her a good person. That scared look was there just a second ago, but it's gone now. There's a goofy smile on his face, and Lianne is happy. She drains her glass and grins. That look will never have to be directed at her again. Because she is marrying Keith Mars who is a good person. He is kind and nice and maybe if she gets close enough to him, she will become all those things too.

Four nights after her honeymoon she runs into Jake Kane, they are both drunk, they are both married, and they somehow end up at the Camelot. Lianne wakes up with the words, "Good morning Keith," in her mouth. But they die quickly, much like her reservations did last night. He rolls over and kisses her, and she remembers times when they snuck out of the house together as teenagers, when they were King and Queen of the prom. Together they are wild and crazy and passionate, and kissing him is a little like being drunk. He isn't nice to her, he isn't even friendly to her. She can't tell if he loves her, she can't even tell if she loves him.

But it wouldn't matter if she did. Because she is a different person now, she is a _good_ person. She is married to Keith Mars, officer of the law, and her life is calmer, better.

So she gets out of the grungy hotel bed, unpeeling Jake's arms as she puts on her new resolve. What she has with Keith may not be exciting, but it makes her feel good.

Four weeks later she finds out that she's pregnant, and she gives up. She gives up on being a good person, she gives up on trying to have a nice life. She can't drink, but she does the next best thing. Jake Kane becomes her addiction, and she falls deeper and deeper.

When Veronica is four she starts drinking again.

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Fifth

This is the fifth time he's taken his Criminal Law exam. Half the kids in his class couldn't tell the witness stand from the jury box, but somehow they managed to pass. Cliff thinks there must be some shady dealings, and he's possible that at least two of them bribed their way to a D. Cliff's not above bribery, only he just spent his last three dollars on a cup of coffee. He's sure the prices rose between him ordering it and the time it took for them to make it.

He takes a sip. Lukewarm. And is that sugar in it? He tosses it in the trash on his way out. Time to study.

Or not. He spots a very attractive brunette looking at him appraisingly. He heads over. It's not like he's actually going to be a _lawyer_ anyway.

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Please review, or even just point out places where I might've missed a comma or something. I don't have a beta, so constructive criticism really helps.


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